Union of Australian Women

The Union of Australian Women was formed in 1950. Founding
members included members of the Communist Party of Australia, the
Australian Labor Party, members of the New Housewives Association
and Christian activists.

The organisation affiliated with the Federal Council for
Aboriginal Advancement in the early 1960s and contributed to
campaigns for racial equality for Indigenous Australians and for
their right to land. Aboriginal activists Gladys O'Shane from
Cairns and Pearl Gibbs from Sydney were members. Eva Bacon from
Queensland, Barbara Curthoys from Newcastle, and Pauline Pickford,
Secretary of the Victorian Council for Aboriginal Rights took
active roles in the 1960s in the work for Aboriginal rights.
Marjorie Oke, also an active member, formed a branch of the
Aboriginal Advancement League in Gippsland, Victoria and invited
Gladys O'Shane down from Cairns to address them.

The Union of Australian Women was under surveillance by the
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, which considered it
as a front for the Communist Party of Australia. It provided a
voice for Indigenous activists such as Gladys O'Shane, Ruth
Wallace, Muriel Callope and Marcia Langton, in their efforts to
inform other women of the particular difficulties faced by
Indigenous women.